Saturday, December 21

Nothing much happening outdoors

If you are a regular visitor to my blog you may have noticed a lack of posts recently. One reason for this is that nothing much has been happening - garden  and allotment wise at least - so I didn't have anything to share. My poor camera thinks it has been made redundant and my camera finger is restless and itchy.

Just to try and  ease the withdrawal symptoms, I searched in the garden for something, anything that I could point my camera at. 
We have had frosty mornings and damp and murky mornings most of which have set the tone for the day. There's plenty of outdoor jobs waiting to be tackled but it's just not been conducive to outdoor activity.

You may notice in the photo, bottom right above, that the spring bulbs are made of hardier stuff and many are pushing through the frosty earth.

Other plants are optimistically preparing for spring. The hazels and garrya already have produced catkins and other bushes are in bud.
We did manage one job in the garden which was to clear away a pile of debris that was abandoned after a lanky mahonia was cut hard back.
I also decided to plant some garlic in pots, in the garden, rather than try to plant in the allotment mud. I planted soft neck garlic in one pot and hard neck in the other. The cloves were saved from last year's crop so fingers crossed that they will manage to grow.
When we visited Harlow Carr to see the light show I bought a couple of amarylis bulbs, (or hippeastrums if you prefer). One was for me and the other for my sister. We have each planted them. Both bulbs had started to grow and both have two flower buds. Earlier in the month, I'd seen some ready potted bulbs that already had tall stems topped with fat buds but for me part of the fun is watching them grow.
On Thursday the rain held off until late afternoon - can you call it afternoon at three o' clock when the light is already fading? We decided to make a quick visit to the allotment to collect some fresh vegetables as stocks at home were dwindling.

Whilst, Martyn took care of the harvesting and did a bit of filming, I decided to start pruning the jostaberry bushes. At least, it is one job that can be done when the soil is soggy. The problem is that routes around the plot have to be varied to try to prevent the paths from becoming a slippery mess. We haven't been altogether successful and some care has to be taken walking in some parts.

I managed to prune two of the five jostaberry bushes.
They probably don't look vastly different but I actually removed quite a lot from each bush. I prune them in a similar way to gooseberries. Lots of straggly growth was cut out and any stems heading into the centre of the bush which I try to keep relatively open. Any branches crossing were also removed. If left to their own devices jostaberries will grow over 2 metres or about 6 feet tall and so I trimmed branches back to just above my head height so I can easily pick any berries. I also cut back any branches spreading too far to the sides either blocking the paths or interfering with other nearby plants.
For the past few weeks our harvests have been very similar - cabbages, carrots and parsnips. This week we also lifted a stem of Brussels sprouts which will be kept in a bucket of water and the sprouts picked off as we need them. Last year our sprouts were pathetic so we were happy to see that this year they have grown much better.

Unfortunately the wet weather is spoiling quite a few crops. Lots of layers of outer leaves need removing from cabbages and as you can see from the photo below the slugs are prolific and not even deterred once the carrots are harvested. The small species are particularly destructive.
Fortunately the carrots are large and once the damage is cut away there is some left for us. It makes you wonder how farmers manage to achieve such perfect roots.

Let's hope the New Year brings us some friendlier weather.


14 comments:

  1. It's been hard to find any motivation for the garden this autumn, given the awful weather. Yes indeed, let's hope the New Year can bring us more cheer. The winter solstice always gives me hope, I tend to regard it as the start of the new gardening season.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The solstice is a turning point Jessica, we just need the weather to dry up as it's going to take some time for soil to dry enough to garden.

      Delete
  2. Between health and weather I have a garden out of control now. Here's to a better New Year all around. In the meantime, Winter Solstice Blessings, and Nadolig Llawen!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, Deborah let's hope 2020 is a kind year

      Delete
  3. It always amazes me how commercial growers do so well. And I worry that they aren't properly compensated and that people don't appreciate how hard it is to grow veg. It's really squelchy here too, so very little going on in the garden. The elephant garlic is up, which is good to see. I resisted buying houseplants at the garden centre today (ludisia discolor and streptocarpus targa and a peperomia and a small orange and airplants - I could have gone mad) - I think it's a symptom of no outside gardening. Your sprouts look brilliant this year. I know what you mean about those tiny slugs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I went to the garden centre specifically to buy house plants, CJ to cheer things up after the summer plants had faded.

      Delete
  4. Oh those brussel sprouts look fabulous. I wouldn't mind those carrots either. They will taste yummy all cleaned and cooked. A nice haul for a winters day. I am impressed that you found something to do in the garden when it is so wet and cold. Here we are thrown back into a spring-like setting. Temps are running higher than normal. Crazy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We're looking forward to the sprouts, Lisa as last year's were a disaster. The carrots did taste good. I wish we could have a taste of spring,

      Delete
  5. Lovely Brussels, Sue. They are so fresh.

    Martin and Sue,
    I WISH YOU AND YOURS
    A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS
    FULL OF JOY AND HAPPINESS
    BLESSINGS,
    KISSES,
    HUGS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Nadezda and I wish the same for you.

      Delete
  6. Oh, the weather has been dismal for sure. Glad to see you got some jobs done, love your sprouts!xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The sprouts were welcome, Dina after last year’s sprout failure.

      Delete
  7. I can't believe it is still green and that you are still harvesting veggies. It looks like you were able to accomplish a lot. I am five months from progress. (A small bit of jealousy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. More green and brown with all the mud, Bonnie. We can usually harvest something though winter. May tends to be our hungry gap! The digging is still impossible though.

      Delete

Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment - it is great to hear from you and know that there are people out there actually reading what I write! Come back soon.
(By the way any comments just to promote a commercial site, or any comments not directly linked to the theme of my blog, will be deleted)
I am getting quite a lot of spam. It is not published and is just deleted. I have stopped sifting through it and just delete any that ends up in my spam folder in one go so I am sorry if one of your messages is deleted accidentally.
Comments to posts over five days old are all moderated.